A Site For Sore Guys

KEY BISCAYNE — Before Bob Murphy steps to the first tee, he dresses to do battle.

He straps on a belt with three magnets in the back.

He inserts three tiny magnets in his left shoe, straps two around his left knee and he tapes two more to his left thumb.

This begins after he awakens from a mattress lined with magnets.

The guy's practically magnetic, but it is the lengths he must go to ward away the once severe arthritic pain that nearly ended his career. Golfers? Wimps? Not on the Senior PGA Tour.

Golf may not be a contact sport, but you wouldn't know it walking up and down the driving range at the Royal Caribbean Classic at Crandon Park Golf Course on Key Biscayne this week. There are aches and pains galore. The opponent Senior PGA Tour players most dread isn't Hale Irwin or Gil Morgan. It's pain. From creaky knees to bad backs, this game's slowly wearing them out.

Eventually, they'll all succumb, but they won't go without a fight.

"We're trying to drag out our careers as long as we can," said George Archer, 59, whose right hip was surgically replaced two years ago. "I've had seven surgeries. Hip, back, shoulder, wrist. You name it, I've had it cut on over the years. They've all been done to repair body parts so I can keep playing."

Bobby Nichols is playing this week with a pair of artificial hips.

With so much money at stake on the Senior PGA Tour, there's enormous incentive for players to prolong their careers as long as possible.

One more good year can add a half-million dollars to the bankroll.

An injury, something as mild as a pulled muscle, can cost a player dearly.

So Senior PGA Tour players are forever in search of a magic elixir.

Whether it's weight-training, aerobics, stretching, vitamins, protein shakes or herbal concoctions, senior tour players creatively search for any means necessary to hold their bodies together. If somebody wins with duct tape holding a joint in place this week, you can be sure there will be a run on duct tape at the next Senior PGA Tour stop.

Gary Player preached on the wonders of fitness during his prime on the PGA Tour, but few players listened and fewer believed, even though he excelled. He had enormous talent, they knew. But when Jim Colbert won the Senior PGA Tour money title after hiring a personal fitness trainer four years ago, senior players took notice. Colbert was a very good player on the PGA Tour, but he never challenged for Player of the Year honors before.

Today, a dozen or so senior players have their own personal trainers.

The tour unveiled a new $1million HealthSouth Fitness trailer at Crandon Park this week.

"We'll see 30 to 40 percent of the players on tour in here," said Jeff Booher, one of two fitness trainers staffing the trailer this week. "More and more players are coming in."

Brian Barnes, 53, travels from tournament to tournament in an RV equipped with The Gym 2000, a portable fitness machine. He's limping heavily these days. He's on Warfarin, a blood-thinning medicine prescribed to treat two blocked veins in his right leg, and he's on "about 10 Tylenols a day" to battle the rheumatoid arthritis in his left foot.

"There are mornings when you wake up and go, `Nuts, not again,''' Barnes said. "There are days you don't want to play, but it's just too much fun not to play."

Lee Trevino surprised more than a few observers at the Royal Caribbean Classic last year when he revealed he was jogging up to 5 miles a day and on a new diet.

Colbert, 57, does more than work out. He begins his day with a protein and mineral shake and a number of vitamin supplements.

Murphy, 55, of Delray Beach, swears by Tectonic magnets, which he says have eased the arthritic pain that ended his PGA Tour career prematurely. They are "unipolar, negatively-charged" magnets about the size of a ball marker.

"I would never say it's cured, but it's in remission," Murphy said. "I got out of bed one day, and I didn't have to check to make sure my parts were all still in place."

Murphy also bolsters his diet with 10,000 milligrams of vitamin C per day, and a dose of Glucosamine Sulfate with Chondroitin, which Murphy insists causes cartilage to grow.

"If you don't really love to play, and you don't have the competitive drive, you won't take the necessary steps to get ready to go," Murphy said. "I love to play."

Even if it's painful.

Kennedy earns spot

Roger Kennedy, the former club professional from Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course, earned a spot in this week's field as a Monday qualifier. ... Trevino and Raymond Floyd are together in a marquee pairing going off at 11:20 a.m. on Friday. ... Bruce Summerhays shot a 6-under-par 65 to lead the pros in Wednesday's pro-am.